Monica Lewinsky's TED talk and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne tell us about women who made a huge mistake, how they were punished for it, and how they overcame it. Although their situations happened hundreds of years apart, and had many differences, many of the things that happened to them were the same. They both committed adultery and slept with someone they shouldn’t. They were both punished publicly for a private matter, and it ruined their lives and their reputations, but they eventually overcame it. Even though they both made a mistake and it ruined them, in some ways it also helped shape who they become. They both made a mistake and slept with someone they shouldn't have and they were both punished for it. Hester was married …show more content…
Her situation should have been dealt with privately, but she was punished publicly instead. They both made a horrible mistake, but in a way, their mistake led to something even better. In some ways, their mistakes helped them become better people. For Monica, her Ted Talk was a way of letting go of her past and her mistakes and beginning a new chapter in her life. In her talk, she was asked why it took so long for her to come out and talk about her mistake, and she responded that “it’s time: time to stop tip-toeing around [her] past; time to stop living a life of opprobrium; and time to take back [her] narrative” (Lewinsky). Monica was done with letting her mistake define who she was, and she wanted to put it in her past. Her mistake led her on a new path, one where she controlled her life, and one where she could change the ending of her story. For Hester, her daughter Pearl helped her overcome her mistake and helped her become the person she wanted to be. When Hester went to discuss the custody of Pearl and was going to be deemed unfit to keep her she said “God gave me the Child!” “He gave her, in requital of all things else which ye had taken from